Deaths due to Alzheimer’s and dementia have fallen by the largest amount in 20 years, official figures show.
A report into the fatalities, published for the first time, shows they dropped by four per cent in 2019 in England and Wales – or 3,054 – from 69,478 to 66,424.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) report reveals that the age-standardised rate, which takes into account variations in age between cases, shows a drop of seven per cent from 123.8 to 115.1 per 100,000.
The number of people suffering from dementia has only declined three times since 2001 when modern records began.
But deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s have been going up year on year, and have surged by more than two-fold since the deaths were first recorded.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is not included in the data because the first lockdown did not happen until March 2020.
Deaths from the diseases accounted for 12.5 per cent of all fatalities in England and Wales last year, the ONS said.
